Flickr, Picasa, SmugMug or Photobucket

gennatay · Jan 5, 2011

Which do you prefer to use for online Photo sharing.

Im thinking of purchasing a Flickr Pro account. I know I'm going to be taking a lot of pictures in the near and I like the idea of unlimited uploading.

Which do you prefer?

Trever1t · Jan 5, 2011

I have a free flickr pro account and love it for hosting, sharing and networking. It's more of a community than the others.

mrshaleyberg · Jan 5, 2011

I'm using the flickr pro. Can't beat it!

nonamexx · Jan 5, 2011

Flickr is a photo community. And you get to meet some great people on there (if you get lucky!) who are more than willing to share their photographic knowledge and experience. And the best part is that you get to see so many variety of techniques, skill levels and subjects. It's an ocean out there if you actively explore the site.

So it depends on your needs. If all you need is a web album to store pictures, Picasa is more than sufficient.

If you want a community, I don't think any site can beat Flickr.

I believe SmugMug is more a professional site. You get only a paid account and you can use it to sell your photos also.

BuS_RiDeR · Jan 5, 2011

I use Picasa... I like it a lot. I have a flikr account as well... But I don't really use it that often.

AprilEye · Jan 6, 2011

I like Flickr.

OrionsByte · Jan 6, 2011

I had a flickr account a while back, but right now I'm using Picasa. The big reasons are:

It helps me organize the photos on my computer.
It's incredibly easy to set up a folder or album to upload to the website.
Albums on the website stay synced with their counterparts on my computer, so if I change a caption or make a small edit, it's automatically updated on the website.
It's easy to send any of my pics directly from Picasa to Facebook when I want to.

Basically it's a really nice all-in-one solution for me. The only thing that would make it insanely perfect is if they added Mpix.com as a partner for printing.

bigtwinky · Jan 6, 2011

Flickr Pro.
Been using it for a bit over a year. Great community, met some nice people, sold some work (a few, but hey, better than none), cheap, easy to use.

I'm thinking of a Smugmug account as well to work as a portfolio and store front site, but might keep the flickr pro for the community

Light Artisan · Jan 6, 2011

I use Flickr Pro and SmugMug.

I have a rating system when I go through my photos.

0 gets deleted
1 is kept
2+ is edited
3+ goes to Flickr
4+ goes to SmugMug

I like the community of Flickr and the customization/presentation of SmugMug.

kundalini · Jan 6, 2011

I've used Flickr, ImageShack, Photobucket and had a Flickr Pro account. I now have a SugMug Pro account and like it very much. Mind you, I am not using it as a social networking thing. The few photo forums I visit are enough for me. I really don't care where someone had lunch on Tuesday.

Overread · Jan 6, 2011

As has been said each of the services offers a slightly different package - Smugmug is more aimed at retail rather than photo hosting and social interaction alone - whilst as said flickr is more aimed at being a social interactions website and photo host.

I will note that photobucket operates only as an image host and that they have some nasty bits in their terms and conditions of use (ie whilst photos are hosted on their site they have a no royalties no limits licence to use your photo for any use so long as you keep it hosted on their site).

Personally I use flickr for a photo host and social interaction - many groups are "vote for me" types but there are also some great groups setup on there and its well worth taking the time to search around and find the good ones. Note also that a paid account at flickr (which is not much more than a magazine subscription cost) also offers you a lot more than at places like photobucket

Smugmug is something I would use if I were more interested in trading and selling prints rather than just hosting photos for chats online. (though in my case I'd use a similar service provided in the UK since that is where I am)

Note - I do keep a photobucket account, but only a free one that I use to host more lower grade photos and photos that are not my own (eg editing someone elses work) rather than upload such to flickr

KmH · Jan 6, 2011

I use Flickr, Photobucket (private) , and Zenfolio.

myfotoguy · Jan 6, 2011

Light Artisan said:
I use Flickr Pro and SmugMug.
I like the community of Flickr and the customization/presentation of SmugMug.

Similar here, I like the community of Flickr, but BY FAR I like the look and feel and customization of Zenfolio. I have also tried Smug Mug, I like them both but settle on Zenfolio.

There are trials for Smug Mug, and Zenfolio, and Flickr costs nothing to try a basic account. You can also go to those sites and browse others galleries to see how they look.